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Sunday, May 22, 2016

The Department of Anthropology at Florida Atlantic University is advertising the position described below. Please note the closing date, which is rapidly approaching. Please do apply if you believe you are qualified. Thanks!

Cliff

Job Posting:

Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Department of Anthropology seeks an
Outreach Coordinator (position number 980313) for its grant-funded
Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) office in downtown Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida. The Coordinator must be knowledgeable about Florida
archaeology and the overall mission of the Florida Public Archaeology
Network (FPAN), assist the Regional Director with public outreach and
other center efforts, and supervise staff and volunteers. A Master's
degree in an anthropology or related field or a Bachelor's degree in
anthropology or related field and two years of experience in
anthropology, archaeology, or closely related field are required.
Professional experience with public outreach, public interpretation,
education, or heritage tourism required. Candidates must have excellent
communication skills, be able to work independently, access a variety of
buildings or field sites, and have a valid driver's license.
Applications and personal information (CV/Resume, names of references,
other supporting materials) must be completed on-line through the Office
of Human Resources website at https://jobs.fau.edu, position no.
980313. The deadline for application is June 1, 2016.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Am I the only one who hates the manuscript management systems used by the big publishers? I asked this once before, in a rant about the Elsevier system, but I received no response. Now I've had a similarly unpleasant experience with what I think is Wiley's system, although in this case I was simply trying to submit a peer-review of an article.

First I found through trial and error that I had to change not one but two of my browser settings just to get the site to work. Then I had to change my password because they revamped the website and my old password, which was difficult to find, wouldn't work. Then they tried to force me to create a profile. Then I closed my browser and gave up. That's just far too much crap to go through for the privilege of reviewing an article. I thought nothing could be worse than Elsevier's website, but I may have been wrong.

This probably all sounds petulant and querulous, but how much hassle should I put up with for the privilege of doing free work for a huge multinational corporation?

Peer review is a form of unpaid community service upon which these journals rely, so I am frankly astonished that the highly paid executives running these companies would make it harder for scholars to perform it.

It's crazy enough that I donate my time so that these corporations can get richer. I'm not inclined to jump through a bunch of hoops to do it. I'm happy to contribute to the advancement of science if the journal is published by a scientific society, but doing it for commercial publishers is just getting silly.